BITTER PILL FOR TRIALS

The government has been urged to declassify Ecstasy so it can be used
on people in clinical medical trials to see if it can treat
Parkinson's disease and post traumatic stress.

But Cabinet ministers are unlikely to get a chance to debate the
potentially controversial move.

The Ministry of Health commissioned the report, but the Expert
Advisory Committee on Drugs has decided not to act on its
recommendations.

The report's author, medical anthropologist Dr Geoff Noller, says
Ecstasy should be declassified to allow it to be used in clinical
trials to gauge its therapeutic values.

He is disappointed but not surprised the EACD, which advises the
Government, will not act on the report's recommendations.

He said there was no political will to change the law.

"It's all about politics. If they [politicians] decriminalise policy
around drugs, they immediately look like they're going soft," he said.
"Ecstasy has killed maybe three people in the past 10 years ...
alcohol kills, what, 1000 people a year?"

But Northland man Laurie Langridge is glad the classification won't
change.

His 24-year-old son Jamie died in 2000 after taking two Ecstasy pills
at a dance party in Whangarei.

"I don't see why they have to re-classify it," he said. "It's
definitely not a safe drug."

Advisory committee chairman and Ministry of Health chief public health
adviser, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, acknowledged the drug may have health
benefits and that international research is being undertaken in this
field.

But Ecstasy is a schedule 1 substance under the United Nations
Convention on Psychotropic Substance 1971, which New Zealand was a
signatory to and was required to follow suit in terms of
classification, he said.

A spokesman for Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said until he
received advice from the advisory committee, the classification of
Ecstasy would not be reviewed.

Otago University senior lecturer in psychological medicine Dr Gavin
Cape is also disappointed. "[Ecstasy] has a long history and has
potential to treat medical conditions but it is severely hampered by
its current illegal status," he said.

Noller's report says Ecstasy could be used to treat medical conditions
such as Parkinson's disease, but its current Class B classification
was a barrier.

Noller believes there is increasing interest in research exploring
this area. "Concerns have been expressed by respected researchers that
the criminalisation of MDMA [Ecstasy] has created barriers to the
development of this research."

Cape said Ecstasy could increase empathic responses in post-traumatic
stress sufferers and could help Parkinson's sufferers overcome
difficulties with facial expression.